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- Title
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Shipping
- Database
Senate Hansard
- Date
16-12-1992
- Source
Senate
- Parl No.
36
- Electorate
WA
- Interjector
- Page
5174
- Party
LP
- Presenter
- Status
- Question No.
- Questioner
Senator CAMPBELL
- Responder
Senator COOK
- Speaker
- Stage
- Type
- Context
- System Id
chamber/hansards/1992-12-16/0092
Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document
Table Of Contents

Previous Fragment Next Fragment
-
Hansard
- Start of Business
-
PETITIONS
- Australian Research Fellowship
- Constitutional Monarchy
- Bender's Quarry
- ABC: Asia
- Oath/Affirmation of Allegiance
- Trade Practices Act
- Regulation of Video Material Bill 1992
- Veterans' Entitlement Amendment Bill 1992
- Procedural Text
-
NOTICES OF MOTION
-
Hours of Meeting and Routine of Business
- Withdrawal
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment Bill 1992
- Crimes (Search Warrants and Powers of Arrest) Amendment Bill 1992
- Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Bill 1992
- Administrative Appeals Tribunal Amendment Bill 1992
- Railways Strike
- Legal Aid
- Burma
- Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
- Legal Aid
- Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts
- Unemployment: Graduates
- Iraq
- Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts
- Tully-Millstream Hydro-electric Scheme
-
General Business
- Withdrawal
-
Hours of Meeting and Routine of Business
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
COMMITTEES
- Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration
- TABLING OF DOCUMENTS
- REGISTERED PUBLICATIONS SERVICE
-
COMMITTEES
- Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
- Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
-
Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training
- Report
- Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
-
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1992
-
In Committee
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator PARER
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator PARER
- Senator BOURNE
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator ALSTON
- Senator ALSTON
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator BOURNE
- Senator HARRADINE
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator WALTERS
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator WALTERS
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator HARRADINE, Senator WALTERS
- Senator COLLINS
- Senator WALTERS
- Senator COLLINS
-
In Committee
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
- HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1992 HOUSING ASSISTANCE AMENDMENT BILL 1992
-
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TRAINING AUTHORITY BILL 1992
- In Committee
- Third Reading
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
- IMPORTED FOOD CONTROL BILL 1992
-
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
-
Economy
(Senator SHORT, Senator BUTTON) -
Manufacturing
(Senator DEVEREUX, Senator BUTTON) -
Victoria: Borrowings
(Senator ALSTON, Senator BUTTON) -
Industrial Relations
(Senator FOREMAN, Senator COOK) -
Nuclear Reactors
(Senator SOWADA, Senator BUTTON) -
Mobile Telecommunications Services
(Senator SCHACHT, Senator COLLINS) -
Prime Minister: Companies
(Senator MICHAEL BAUME, Senator TATE) -
Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Industries
(Senator LOOSLEY, Senator BUTTON) -
Ambassador to the OECD
(Senator BISHOP, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Telecom Australia
(Senator SPINDLER, Senator COLLINS) -
Pigs
(Senator O'CHEE, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Hospitals: Veterans
(Senator WEST, Senator TATE)
-
Economy
- DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
- QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
-
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
- Film Industry
- Ambassador to the OECD
- Independent Contractors
- Prime Minister: Companies
-
MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS
- Australian Advanced Air Traffic System
-
COMMITTEES
-
Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts
- Report
-
Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
- Report: Government Response
- Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
-
Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
DOCUMENTS Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff Department of the Parliamentary Library
- Auditor-General's Reports
-
COMMITTEES
-
Scrutiny of Bills
- Report
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
-
Public Works
- Reports
-
Scrutiny of Bills
- JOINT HOUSE DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC LIABILITY CLAIM
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
COMMITTEES
-
Public Works
- Reports
-
Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances
- Scrutiny of Regulations
-
Public Works
- TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1992
- DATA-MATCHING PROGRAM (ASSISTANCE AND TAX) AMENDMENT BILL 1992 VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992 VETERANS' ENTITLEMENTS AMENDMENT BILL 1992 SOCIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992 SOCIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1992
- ADJOURNMENT
- DATA-MATCHING PROGRAM (ASSISTANCE AND TAX) AMENDMENT BILL 1992 VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992 VETERANS' ENTITLEMENTS AMENDMENT BILL 1992 SOCIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1992 SOCIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1992
-
ADJOURNMENT
- Primary Production
- DOCUMENTS
-
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
-
Taxation: Imputation Credit Scheme
(Senator Maguire, Senator Button) -
Taxation: Dividend Imputation Credits
(Senator Watson, Senator Button) -
Currency and Coinage
(Senator Watson, Senator Button) -
Treasury: Staff
(Senator Archer, Senator Button) -
Aboriginal Medical Service
(Senator Campbell, Senator Collins) -
Information Technology
(Senator Parer, Senator Button) -
Wet Tropics Management Authority: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
(Senator O'Chee, Senator Collins) -
Superannuation
(Senator Watson, Senator Button) -
Immigration: Return of Chinese Citizens
(Senator O'Chee, Senator Tate) -
ACT AIDS Action Council
(Senator Reid, Senator Button) -
Navy: Vessel Repairs
(Senator O'Chee, Senator Robert Ray)
-
Taxation: Imputation Credit Scheme
Content Window
Wednesday, 16 December 1992
Page: 5174
Page: 5174
Senator CAMPBELL
—Is the Minister for Shipping and Aviation Support aware of the growing complaints of industry about the stalled micro-reform process, as expressed in the Industry Commission's annual report? It states:
In some areas reform has produced productivity gains but gains do not seem to have passed on to users. Shipping is a frequently cited example.
It goes on to state:
The retention of cabotage is a restriction on further competition that should be addressed.
Can Australian business look forward to an end to what yesterday's Australian Financial Review calls `the high cost of cabotage', or is shipping what the Prime Minister referred to when he said on 2 December `the big agenda of the mid-80s is largely behind us', and on Lateline when he said that micro-reform was `mostly completed' and `what else do you want me to do?'?
Senator COOK
—The Cabinet deliberations on shipping reform will remain confidential; I will not comment on the media speculation about them. Shipping reform in Australia is widely perceived as a model of non-confrontationist, non-divisive reform which has achieved significant gains and improvement for Australian ship users. Just the other day an international shipper was in my office and said, `In the old days before you effected this reform, we could be absolutely sure when our ships would arrive in Australia—we couldn't be sure when they would depart. Now we can be sure of both. Thank you very much, government, for enabling that reform to occur'.
As a consequence of our reform, the average crew has been reduced by 25 per cent, from 28 on average to under 21 crew members, thereby matching the level of OECD ships visiting Australia; new ships are now being introduced with crews of 17, compared to 21 three years ago; increased labour productivity over the life of the program will result in long term savings of $50m per annum to the industry; retraining has been provided to more than 1,900 seafarers to facilitate crew reductions through multi-skilling; and industrial disputation has fallen, with only 70 ship days lost in 1992, compared to 1,593 ship days lost in the last year of the coalition government.
The Government's reform program has meant that investors in the industry have been encouraged, and they have invested nearly $2 billion in the launching of 31 more new, modern ships for Australia, with another five on order. That is a mark of the confidence that industry has had in the cooperative and harmonious reform climate we have created on the Australian coast.
In terms of cabotage, the coalition leaves me aghast. What does it want on the Australian coast? Does it want a rust bucket crewed by Asian crews living on a grain of rice a day and a kick up the backside to keep them interested? Is that what the Opposition wants? The Australian industry is a highly trained, highly skilled and highly efficient industry that delivers a very good service that is valued by its users.
Senator CAMPBELL
—Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The Industry Commission recognises the reforms that have taken place but also recognises that the savings have not been passed on to exporters. My supplementary question is: is the Government's excuse for not taking away cabotage that we want to single-handedly solve the problem of the world's dilapidated shipping fleet, at great cost to our exporters and particularly exporters from Western Australia; or is it that Senator Cook does not want to cause any problems with his union mates prior to the next election? What is the reason?
Senator COOK
—I thought it would be the case that today Senator Campbell would try to work into a question some reference to my alleged union mates. It may escape the notice of the Opposition that this Government acts on principle to bring about reforms in the best interests of the nation without regard to the particular interests of any group, and that concerns some of those people who argue about things that Senator Campbell has just argued about.
I said at the beginning of my answer that I will not comment on confidential deliberations of Cabinet. They will be announced in due course. The honourable senator will have to sit quietly and wait for us to do so and respond, if he chooses, then.
As Senator Collins pointed out in a number of interjections, the Industry Commission report should be read in full and not selectively. If it is, and if it is not used as some sort of selective stick to beat us with but rather as a comprehensive understanding of reform, I do not think Senator Campbell will find very much support at all for his contentions.